"He doesn't fight," Choo said from his place on the floor. "Ren lies low and watches his opponent exhaust himself with petty posturing. Then, once his enemy has exposed his weakness, your brother strikes once with lethal accuracy."
Coyote lunged at him. "You fought the Guardian."
"I did do that. But that's because, unlike you, he knew me and he knew how to attack my weaknesses to goad me against my better judgment."
"I know your w-w-w-weaknesses, too!"
"No. You know my faults. They are not the same thing. In fact, the Guardian and his daughter have taught me much about myself and others." He twirled so that Coyote's next blow missed him.
"Something other than how to speak without stuttering?"
"No. That is something I owe Grizzly. What the Guardian taught me was that we grow stronger and more intelligent as we learn to compensate for our faults. Unlike others, we have to teach ourselves to adapt quickly so that we can finally master what others take for granted. When something comes too easy for you, you never learn the skill of improvement or flexibility. Of thinking up a better, more concise way to do it. Most of all, you don't learn determination and how to roll with a punch. That was what allowed me to fight him for a year. Because I couldn't speak without your mockery, I learned other ways to communicate. Because you spoon-fed me a daily dose of pain, I didn't feel his punches."
Ren ducked another blow. "And because you taught me to hate myself, I learned to value others more. I kept fighting the Guardian, not for my own well-being, but for Buffalo's. Had it been my death solely that concerned me, I would have allowed him to take my head and end my pain. But I feared that should he defeat me, he would kill my one and only friend, and leave me alone in the world again. That is why I fought him so relentlessly. My flaws became my strength. Your mockery and cruelty were the fuel my determination needed to see me through the darkest hours of my life. For that, my brother, I am forever in your debt."
Coyote stabbed at him.
Ren sidestepped the blow and caught his arm. "But weaknesses ... those are the most dangerous weapons in the universe. Weakness is not a physical trait. It's not a stutter or a bad hand or missing leg. Weaknesses are the ones who live in our hearts. They can motivate us to the highest level and they alone can utterly destroy us. There was a time, brother, when you were my weakness. When I charged headlong into a boar, knowing I lacked the equipment to fight it-that was a weakness. I cared more for your life than mine."
Coyote sneered in his face. "You never loved me. You did that for attention. 'Look at me! I'm the hero. I'm the better warrior.' Everything you did, you did to show me up, and you know it. But I wouldn't let you steal my thunder. I showed you who the better man was."
Ren shook his head. "What you showed me was a pathetic little boy, crying for every drop of attention you could grab even though it was always lavished on you. It still wasn't enough. All these years, I have carried guilt in my heart and tortured myself over what I did to you. Did you ever once consider what you did to me?"
"I never did anything to you to warrant your torture. I was your brother and I loved you. Yeah, I played a prank or two. That's what children do. It was all harmless."
Ren shook his head at his brother. There had never been anything harmless about Coyote's actions. "You lied and you stole everything you could from me. When that wasn't enough, you insulted and mocked things I couldn't help."
"You tortured me, you bastard!"
Ren grabbed Coyote's hair and jerked his head back. "See the past. Not through your lies, but through the truth."
He pulled Coyote back to the small home Ren had seized as his headquarters. Unlike his brother, who had taken over their palace after their father's death, Ren had wanted nothing more than a modest place to call his own.
As soon as Coyote entered his domain, Ren had been suspicious of his intent.
"What do you want?"
"I am going forward with my marriage to Butterfly and wanted to bring you my offering for your attendance." Coyote had smiled winsomely. "I miss my brother. We used to sit and talk every night."
No. Ren would clean Coyote's weapons and test them, then prepare his brother's bed while Coyote chattered on about the woman he'd most recently been with and all the changes he would make once he was chief. Makah'Alay, fetch me wine. Food. A chamber pot. Coyote had treated him as a slave while mocking him constantly.
But Ren hadn't remembered any of that as he saw his brother again. "I thought you'd be mad at me over what I did to Father."
"You made me chief. How could I be angry over that? Had Father been worthy, he would have killed you, instead." Coyote had held a jug of wine out to Ren. "Let us drink to your victory and my position." He tipped it at Ren. "You first."
Without thinking, Ren had trusted him. But the poison had hit his system hard and sent him to the floor within a few seconds after drinking Coyote's "offering." Sick and disoriented, Ren had groaned from the cramps in his stomach. "W-w-w-w-what-"
"D-d-d-d-did I do? I poisoned you, you moron. Did you really think I'd let you live to take my place? No." Coyote had kicked him over, onto his back. Then, after pinning him to the floor with one knee, he moved to stab Ren's heart.
But the Grizzly wasn't willing to lose his host. The red pendant had flashed and the knife had been unable to pierce Ren's flesh. Better still, the demon stone had absorbed the poison in his body, and within a few heartbeats, he was back on his feet.
He seized Coyote by his throat. "How dare you!"
"Release me."
"So you can poison me again?"
"No. I intend to turn everyone against you. It won't do you any good to be a leader when everyone's dead."
Ren frowned at his brother's psychotic reasoning. "Why would you do that?"
"Because if I can't rule them, be damned if my retarded brother will."
"I'm not retarded!"
Coyote had curled his lip at him. "That's because you're too retarded to know just how stupid you really are."
Ren had slung him against the wall.
Even though he was limping, Coyote dared to laugh at him. "Do you really think your men follow you? They follow the Grizzly Spirit. Makah'Alay is a joke. They mock you behind your back."
Ren had grabbed him again.
"Go ahead and hit me. I dare you. You're not man enough. We both know it."
"Shut up!"
Coyote laughed even harder. "You don't order me around. I refuse to follow someone so revolting and stupid that not even a whore will let you touch her tits. Remember? We offered her four times the going rate and still she wouldn't even show you one. But I fucked her until she howled like a bitch desperate for my cock."
His anger burning so fiercely now that it was almost tangible, Ren pulled Coyote back to the present where they were once again facing off. "You goaded me. Every time I started to free you during that year, you ran your mouth and threatened, then insulted me."
"You were a coward."
"Yes, I was a coward and a pathetic fool who thought if I obeyed well enough and licked your ass enough ... if I swallowed all your shit with no complaint, that maybe, just maybe you would love me back. But what I learned from the Guardian's daughter is that love doesn't happen like that. Love isn't an obligation. You don't owe someone your loyalty and you damn well don't owe them your heart. It's an emotion, and it's born from mutual respect and generosity. It is not cruel and it is not judging. It comes from a willingness to live in complete and utter misery for the benefit of another. But when it's real, you don't feel that misery at all. The thought of their face, the scent of their skin brings a light to that darkness so bright that it drives out everything else."
Coyote sneered at him. "Congratulations, Makah'Alay. You finally allowed a whore to turn you into a woman."
Ren shoved Coyote away from him. Then as he moved to take Coyote's life, he heard the sound of men running toward them.
Coyote laughed. "Thank you for that award-winning chick speech, brother. Now ... let me show you how a man deals with things. I believe you haven't met my new friend Chacu ... but you might remember his men that you sealed in hell. If not, I can assure you, they remember you."
Shit ...
Sorry, Grizzly. His brother had just unleashed the one army that could kill him.
Demonstone or no demonstone.